Grandma Lou and Grandpa Ron took me home just as winter was setting in.
Now, keep in mind—I’m a little Southern boy, born and raised where snow is about as common as a unicorn sighting. So when I first saw snow, I had no clue what it was.
I still had a pretty good vocabulary back then—way beyond what most kids could dream of.
One time, years later, I was hanging out with my mom, and she asked me,18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfjRLZx8EDm
“Do you still know what congeniality means?”18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm4fnmR58L8
And I said, “No.”18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyHSQ1Porq6
She laughed and told me we were watching the Miss America pageant when I was two, and I asked her,18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSknYxMV6U1
“Am I Mr. Congeniality?”
That’s when I realized: I had a vocabulary most kids could only dream about.
So, when we finally got to Grandma and Grandpa’s house and Grandpa tried to put me down in the snow, I wasn’t about to let that happen without a fight.
I looked at him and said,18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEoh6dPHzt
“No! You ain’t puttin’ me down in that bird poop. Ew!”
Snow might have been a mystery, but some things—even at two years old—were crystal clear.
Grandpa looked at me and said,18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMoSoioOfFO
“Bud, it ain’t bird poop. It’s snow.”
I looked him dead in the eye and said,18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP3o0RZbEfW
“Don’t care. Ew! Don’t know what that stuff is.”
But of course, they sat me down in it anyway.
I put my hand on the snow. It was cold. Real cold. Like, why cold?
I ran straight to the back door, shivering and not looking back.
Grandma still has that sign on her back porch that says,18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7y926uyl2x
“Backdoor Guests Are Best.”
Guess even back then, I wasn’t just any guest—I was family.
I guess even back then, I wasn’t exactly a guest.
Now, I’m not going to go over every little “evil” thing I did while living with my grandparents—that would take forever.
But I will tell you this:18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM0Jtgmt4hI
When I was four, I ran away from home.
Not because I wanted to see the world or anything fancy like that.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe44mnncseH
Nope.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6o5WHJxXdK
I just didn’t want to do chores.
I had gotten this little plastic cow on a leash for Christmas, and I took him with me when I went over to the next-door neighbor’s house.
We called her Grandma Coe—because that’s just what you do in the South.
Grandma Coe looked at me and said,18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeESsv51Hjl
“Darlin’, you can’t stay here. You gotta go back to your Grandma’s.”
So she called ahead, and Grandma Lou was waiting.
When I saw Grandma Lou, spanked me on the botom, and then I said if you spank me you gotta spank cow he 's my cacomplis. if that cow could talk it would have said, snitches get stiches.
The next year, I went to two weeks of preschool summer camp at the Indiana School for the Blind.
Now, I gotta tell you—there was a pool at Sals Park, and I got dunked by an older student.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFrzo4QGAxT
Almost drowned twice.
Yeah, not exactly the best swim lessons ever.
But other than that, it was a good time.
After camp, I started kindergarten at Lambert Hall at the Indiana School for the Blind.
My kindergarten teacher was Miss Francoviac.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSJbCphgsMQ
She was patient and kind—exactly what a little blind kid like me needed to start figuring things out.
So, the first week at school, they had this giant snake pillow in our classroom.
I asked if it had a name.
Miss Warren, our class aide, said,18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbw86MSS2B3
“No, it doesn’t have a name. Why don’t you name it?”
Well, the week before school started, I’d had a Faygo Redpop soda.
And that snake pillow was bright red—just like my soda.
So I named it Redpop.
And just like that, Redpop the snake became part of the class.
Miss Murray was the boss of our house parents.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJUdOk9L13e
But she wasn’t just some authority figure with a clipboard and a whistle.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeHygDBgqDf
She actually played with us kids.
One time, she took us for a ride on this old horse wagon. We were laughing, bouncing around, having the time of our lives.
But after a while, she stopped and said,18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxzI4bXnHPD
“Alright, kids—you gotta get off.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgXrj4xdw1
This is a horse buggy, not a Miss Murray buggy!”
We groaned and begged for one more ride, but she just laughed that Miss Murray laugh and helped us all down.
She had that perfect balance: fun like a big sister, firm like a momma, and always looking out for us.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuE04UepvTf
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlN6BYq1Js7
Now Miss Murray, bless her heart, could be a real goofball when she wanted to be.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXb6AQHJwm
And sometimes... she had jokes.
There was this one time—she kept playing pranks on me.
She had these little toy R2-D2s, you know, the beeping robot from Star Wars.
Well, somehow those things kept moving.
One minute they were on the shelf.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzPN0PqsIJT
Next minute, they were across the room.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjXxGG7cpXW
Then they'd be in my chair.
And every time I asked what was going on, Miss Murray just said,18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKsUSxaprSy
“Oh, that’s just the poltergeists.”
Like it was nothing!18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiDVTbK1drK
Just casual ghost robots, no big deal.
I was half creeped out, half laughing—and 100% convinced that R2-D2 had joined the paranormal.
To this day, I’m still not sure how she pulled it off.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2bDPwdolFf
But one thing’s for sure:18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsDRHkw8oke
Miss Murray kept us on our toes—and always smiling.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX6Is4aADBO
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk8IG4tBHIP
I had to leave the school for a while.
Not because I failed or got in trouble—nothing like that.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9EarF5bd2w
It was because of my pituitary dwarfism.
I was smaller than the other students, and the school staff was worried about me.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk1rtEuGAm1
They didn’t want to throw me into first grade, not when they knew I’d stick out and likely get picked on.
So they suggested I retake kindergarten.
Not because I couldn’t handle the work—18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF630bqt3Tt
but because of my size.
They were trying to protect me, I know that now.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Jh7t8QsgR
But at the time, it felt like I got held back for something I couldn’t control.
That was one of the first times I realized that being different—really different—was going to come with some extra hurdles.
But God still had me in His hands, even then.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUYX0AFEE8s
Even when I didn’t understand it.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaVToNRcamT
So I ended up retaking kindergarten anyway—18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡerCqoHL4WO
this time at Pettit Park School in Kokomo.
That move turned out to be a blessing in disguise.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS6Cjm1n6el
Because it was then that people really started teaching me about God.
We started going to Four Square Assembly of God,18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGWukUIYskV
and Grandma began reading me bedtime stories straight from the Bible.
Those weren’t just stories to me.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEoqygD0yjW
They were adventures.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLm4xmMR6NJ
Heroes and battles, miracles and mercy—18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnOO4C8dxSj
and in every one of them, God was there.
That summer, I gave my life to Jesus.
I was baptized in a swimming pool, since our church didn’t have a baptismal.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhpwKyCEq9g
Didn’t matter—water’s water when the Spirit moves.
I went down a little boy,18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJTBpFh5Nv
and came up with something new—18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpxfMOp9lSI
a heart learning to follow Jesus.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡABqKE3VV5w
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7p2PERMqQ1
